Posted by:

Michael Grose

Your young person asks to go to a party.

You don’t think she should go. It’s for 16 year olds and she’s only 13.

That's a fair judgement call.

She exerts enormous pressure.

She squeezes the guilt gland saying, “Everyone’s going. You never let me have any fun! No wonder I don’t have any friends.”

She vilifies your parenting past and present.

She’s threatens to leave.

What to do?

Hold your nerve!

Stick to your guns. Have some steely resolve.

Holding your nerve is one of the hardest parts of parenting because pressure comes from everywhere when you have kids.

Pressure to conform to what other people want or think is right comes from your friends; your relatives; your children; your children’s friends (indirectly); and dare I say it, from parenting educators/experts.

But when you are convinced you are right, you just have to hold your nerve.

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